Last week the Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the world by trading Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins for All Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and Pro Bowl tight end Jonnu Smith. The Steelers also sent their 5th round pick from the 2027 NFL Draft to Miami and got the Dolphins’ 7th rounder.
No one apparently told Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin that this was supposed to be the slow spot in the NFL’s off season.
While rumors had tied the Steelers to trades for Ramsey and Smith, trading Minkah Fitzpatrick was unimaginable. But traded he has been.
Steel City Insider’s Jim Wexell perhaps summed it up the best by concluding, “…Dolphins made off with the best player in the big trade with the Steelers, but that the Steelers won the trade.”
ON paper, Wexell’s right, we’ll see if what happens on the field vindicates his conclusion. While we wait for that reality to play out, here are three things this trade is telling us now.
Antonio Brown vs Jalen Ramsey. Photo Credit: Karl Rosner, Steelers.com
1. The Steelers Brain Trust Takes 2024’s Meltdown Seriously
The 2024 Steelers closed their season with a 5-game losing streak that got uglier with each week. The piss-poor performance of the defense against the Chiefs at Christmas and in the playoffs against the Ravens called into question the franchise’s fundamental strategy of using defense to keep the team competitive until they can find a franchise QB.
Instead, Patrick Mahomes terrorized the Steelers defense through the air, while Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry ridiculed them on the ground. In simple terms:
- The Steelers defense got its ass kicked. Twice.
- The men in Black and Gold didn’t belong on the same field.
No one should think, let alone suggest, that Minkah Fitzpatrick was responsible for these losses or even that he was some sort of “weak link.” That’s both wrong and disrespectful.
But Mike Tomlin and Omar Khan have clearly concluded that Jalen Ramsey can be a bigger part of the solution than Fitzpatrick.
Events may prove them wrong, but no one can say the Steelers took these beatings sitting down.
2. The Steelers Way Evolves Under Omar Khan
While this easily amounts to the biggest trade in franchise history, let’s keep it in context:
- The Steelers have traded for All Pros (see Jerome Bettis)
- And they’ve traded them away (see Roy Jefferson and Antonio Brown)
But they’ve never exchanged All Pros. Perhaps it’s true that a trade of this magnitude would have been near unthinkable in June of 2015, it hardly spells the death of “Steelers Way.”
- The “Steelers Way” is simply evolving.
In fact, Omar Khan is building on tendencies that first surfaced under Kevin Colbert. Colbert began making trades more frequently in hopes of “Reloading with Roethlisberger,” contract restructures became more common, and using voidable years on contracts began to happen and so forth.
Like Kevin Colbert and Tom Donahoe before him, Omar Khan is leaving is own finger prints on the Steelers Way. Donahoe pioneered the strategy of avoiding free agency bidding ways in favor of resigning your own players.
Kevin Colbert, unlike Donahoe, welcomed back players who’d departed via free agency, improved performance in the first round while displaying an uncanny knack for finding undrafted rookie free agent gems (you may have heard of Willie Parker, James Harrison and Ramon Foster.)
Omar Khan and Kevin Colbert at St. Vincents. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Tribune-Review
And while Khan has been more aggressive with trades and free agency, let’s also remember that he has a freedom that Kevin Colbert never enjoyed – roster building without having to manage the salary cap complications of a franchise quarterback.
3. The Steelers are NOT “All In” on Going for a Super Bowl in 2025
Before the smoke even cleared on Fitzpatrick for Ramsey-Smith trade, Everyone and His Brother in football rushed to the same conclusion:
- The Steelers are All In on a going for a Super Bowl in 2025.
That’s the easy conclusion when you look at the D.K. Metcalf trade, Aaron Rodgers signing and now the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade. But as is so often the case in life, the quick and easy conclusion is the wrong one.
- Yes, these splash personnel moves have generated a lot of Sound and Fury.
But you know what? The Steelers still have a projected 12 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, they’re only missing a 6th round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, and they’re still league leaders in available salary cap space for 2026 and 2027. They’ll lose a little of that leadership after they resign T.J. Watt, but the Steelers salary cap health will remain strong once that deal is done.
- That’s the opposite of being “All In.”
- Going “All In” means you’ve bet everything on the risk you’re taking.
For example, the Steelers were “All In” on Ben Roethlisberger’s recovery after trading for Fitzpatrick in 2019. The trade cost them a shot at a franchise quarterback in the 2020 NFL Draft, and impacted the next several drafts.
In contrast, if these moves result in another “muh” season that ends at about .500 but with no playoff success, the franchise will still enter 2026 with all of its options open.
If the Steelers were truly “All In” this would not be the case.
